Kearney Moves Forward with Sidewalk Construction

The City of Kearney voted to approve the signing of contracts with Mega Industries to build a new sidewalk system for the Dogwood Sidewalk project. Mega Industries constructed the Prospect Street sidewalk in 2017. The Dogwood project connects a current sidewalk on Cedarwood Parkway to Dogwood Elementary from both the Cedarwood and Hills of Westwood subdivisions.

The City is receiving a MoDOT Grant to fund 80% of the project up to $180,000

“The City is receiving a MoDOT Grant to fund 80% of the project up to $180,000—so we are only going to claim $144,300 of the total grant,” said City Administrator Jim Eldridge. The city is looking at possible upgrades within the project scope to see if it can fully utilize the grant, such as upgrading pavement striping.

“It’s very difficult to change the project scope to go outside of the area, but we may be able to enhance some of the improvements we’re going to do, for instance the type of striping we put down on the crosswalks,” reported Eldridge.

Eldridge also advised the board that because of the good pricing, the city asking Mega Industries for a price to extend the sidewalk 1,100 feet south to the Cottonwood subdivision sometime in the future. This is outside the scope of the project and would increase the project by about 30%. MoDOT will NOT be able to participate as it’s outside the scope.

KPGZ News - Brian Watts contributed to this report